Hand fire-engine



(No Model.) 3 sheets-sheet 1.

H. o. ATKINSON an w. MILLER. HAND PIRE ENGINE.

No. 547,871 Patented Oct. 15, 1895.

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` (No Model.) 1 1 u s shedssheet 2.

H. C. ATKINSON 8v W. MILLER-I 1 HANDVPYIRE ENGINB;. No. 547,871.Patented Oct. 15, 1895.

(No Model.) 3 She'ets- Sheet 3.

H. C. ATKINSON & W. MILLER. HAND FIRE ENGINE.

No. 547,871. Patented Oct. 15, 1895.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

HENRY O. ATKINSON vAND WILLIAM MILLER, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

HAND FIRE-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 547,871, dated October15, 1 895.

Application filed February 19, 1895. Serial No. 538,940. (N0 model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY C. ATKINSON and WILLIAM MILLER, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Louisville,in the county of Jefferson andState of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inIland Fire-Engines; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled' in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

' The object of our invention is to provide a convenient machine forextinguishing fires in villages and towns of small population that arewithout water-works and unable to maintain a regular re department. Insuch places, when a fire breaks out, there is usually no betterprovision for extinguishing it than the water broughtin buckets by theneighbors, and when the tire gets a good'start it is difficult toapproach near enough to apply the water effectively.

Our object is to provide an engine transportable easily from place toplace, fed by water brought by hand and directed against the tirethrough hose-pipe and workable by a small force. In order to accomplishthis object in the most convenient and economical manner, we provide atwo-wheeled carriage, the bed of which serves as a water-reservoir to befilled by water brought by hand. In this reservoir we provide a systemof pumps by which the water may be forced through a hose. Shafts areattached to the carriage, with handles and other arrangements to enableit to be pulled by hand to the place where it is needed, and means forlifting the carriage wheels from the ground, throwing them into gearwith wheels actuating a shaft carrying eccentrics, having rods actuatingon a novel arrangement of hollow piston-rods provided with valvesadapted to carry the water into the hose-pipe, and an air-chamber toregulate the flow. The mechanism by which we accomplish these objects isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a topview of our engine with the hose-reel removed; Fig. 2, a side View ofour engine in position for working, showing the hose, and with parts ofthe reservoir and carriage-wheels broken away; Fig. 3, a sideviewungearing device; and Fig. 7, a sectional de tail View of thepump-cylinder and hollow piston-rod, showing the valve arrangements.

Similarletters refer to similar parts throughout the several drawings,and dotted lines indicate change of position of parts shown.

In the drawings, A represents the bed or frame of the engine madewater-tight, having side boards rising in height toward the rear and atail board corresponding in height to the rearward height of the sideboards, adapting the bed to serve as a reservoir when the engine is inaction. In Figs. 2 and 3 the side boards are broken away in large part,in order to show the relations of the pumps and hose Supply-pipe.

A represents the haulinggear, consisting of two shafts bolted at one endon each side to the frame A and strengthened by three cross-bars a4, onenext to the engine-bed, one in the middle, and one near the outer end.Hinged to the rear cross-bar of the shaft-gear A is a supporting-frameA2, consisting of two side pieces at the same distance apart as theshafts, connected by two cross-bars, the rear bar corresponding to andfitting under the rear bar of the shafts and the front one correspondingto the middle cross-barV of the shafts and adapted to be attached to themiddle bar of the shafts by a thumb-screw a3 passing through that bar atapoint half-way between the shafts. The side pieces of thesupporting-frame A2 extend as far as the middle bar at, connecting thehauling-shafts. To the front ends of each of the side bars of thesupporting-frame A2 and lto each of the side sills of the engine-bed, attheir rear ends, are bolted curved and pointed pieces of iron a2,adapted to take a firm hold on the ground when the engine is put intoposition to throw water. the hauling-frame A', and of. each side bar ofthe supporting-frame A2, are attached, on the outside, handles a,adapted to furnish a hold for the men hauling the engine, and to thefront of the outer cross-bara4 of the hauling- Near the outer ends ofeach shaft of` frame, is attached a ring a', adapted to hold a rope bywhich additional men can help to haul.

B B represent wheels for transporting the engine and also adapted toactuate the pumps, as hereinafter described. Each of these wheels workson an axle b, having bearings in the frame A of the engine. On eachaxle, between the wheel B and the bed on frame A, is carried agear-wheel B', adapted to engage a pinion B2, keyed onto a shaft b2,having bearings 113,011 the frame of the engine, at points indicated.Each of these shafts b2 carries two eccentrics C and C', oppositelyarranged, having rods c, connected by crossheads c', with piston-rods Dactuating pistons D", which are arranged in pum p-cylinders E. Thebearings b3 are suitably slotted, each furnished with a slotted slide D,(shown in Figs. 5 and 6,) interiorly arranged, in the forward end ofwhich a rod 197, having a cam movement on the slides, has bearings. Thisrod D7 carries at its middle part, opposite the space between theinterior ends of the two shafts b2, an ungearing-lever B3. Thepumpcylinders E at their outer ends are each furnished with a valve e,and the hollow pistons D have each a valve d, both of which valves openinwardly, as shown on Fig. 7. The piston-rods D are hollow and open intothe holv low piston D at theirlower end and their up-V per end intoflexible tubes f, which open into a receiving-pipe F, from which an exitis provided by an aperture in its lower circumference opening into apipej, which by a bend d is conducted horizontally through the end ofthe engine-bed, where at its end f2, as

shown in Fig. LL, it is furnished with a screw thread to receive thehose-pipe g. Into a threaded aperture in this exit-pipe f is screwed anair-ehamber F. By suitable curved bars g', bolted on each side to theshafts of the hauling-gear A', is supported a hosereel G, carrying asupply hose-pipe g. The running-wheels B are each provided with a handleZig, as shown in Fig. l, attached to the outer end of one of the spokesby snaps and adapted to be folded down onto the spokes when the engineis to be moved, as shown in Fig. 3.

Then it is desired to move our engine t0 the scene of a tire, thearrangment of its parts are as shown in Fig. 3, where thesupportingframe A2 is attached to the hauling-frame A by the screw a3,the handles b8 of the runningwheels are turned back on the spokes, therope attached to the ring a', and the ungearing-lever B3 thrown forwardparallel with the hauling-frame A, thus disengaging the pinion B2 fromthe gear-wheel B. NVhen the scene of the fire is reached, the supportingframe A2 is released and the engine tilted, as

shown in Fig. 3, and made to rest on the pointed irons a2, provided atthe outer ends of A2 and at the rear of the engine-frame, thus giving ita firm seat on the ground and lifting the running-wheels B clear of theground. The handles bsof the runningwheels are then turned out, as shownin Fig. l, and the lever B3 is turned back into the position shown inFig. 1, thereby bringing the pinion B2 into gear with the wheel B. Thetilting of the engine and the shape of the bed makes a sufficientlycapacious reservoir in the rear part of the bed, and the water, broughtin buckets, is thrown into it, covering the pumps. One man takes hohl ofthe handle of; the wheel BQon one side and another of the wheelhandle onthe other side, and by revolving them set the pumps in motion. Owing tothe manner in which the wheels are geared, as described above, thewheels can be revolved in opposite directions, if desired, thus enablingthe operators to use their hands alternately. Ode Wheel can be used at atime. The arrangement of the eccentrics keeps the supply of water to thereceiving-pipe conetant., and the effect of the air-chamber l1" is tomake the exit-stream regular. By means of the novel arrangement ofvalves in the pumpcylinder and piston and the hollow piston the waterthrown into the reservoir is conveniently and rapidly taken up andforced through the hose.

Having thus described our invention,what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a two wheeled hand tire-extinguisher, the combination with theengine bed, sup-` porting wheels, and the hauling shafts, ot' thesupporting frame hinged at its rear end, the foot pieces secured to thefree end of said supporting frame, devices for holding said frame andfoot pieces out of working position, and foot pieces secured to the rearend of said engine bed, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a hand tire engine, the combination with the waterreservoir, aseries of pump cylinders therein having induction valves, hollow valvedpiston, heads, and hollow piston rods, of a receiving pipe havingcommunication with all of said piston rods, an exit pipe extending fromsaid receiving pipe, and an air chamber in said exit pipe, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signa tures in presence of twowitnesses.

HENRY C. ATKINSON. WILLIAM MILLER. \Vitnesses:

JNO. B. TILFonD, EDWD. I-IILPP.

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